IBM License Metric Tool vs xAssets Software Asset Management

IBM License Metric Tool inventories IBM software measured by processor core and measures required licenses in full-capacity and virtualization sub-capacity environments. IBM recommends it for full-capacity licensing and requires it for sub-capacity licensing. It scans infrastructure for installed IBM software and version details that can support version management and security patching. For sub-capacity use, it produces audit reports, tracks license utilization thresholds, and sends email notifications when thresholds approach or exceed their limits. Installation options are License Metric Tool Lite, License Metric Tool with Ansible, and License Metric Tool with BigFix. It integrates with BigFix and provides a REST API for external systems, which must retrieve data through the API rather than directly from the database. The tool is free, with a listed price of free; customers supply hardware and installation services. Linux installations require DB2, included at no charge for use only with the tool. Windows installations require a customer-provided MS SQL Server instance; MS SQL Server Express is supported for environments under 500 endpoints. Sub-capacity audit snapshots must be generated quarterly and kept for at least two years.

xAssets Software Asset Management (xAssets SAM) helps organizations track software licensing and establish a defensible compliance position. Its temporal calculation engine records license, consumption, and grant events, allowing effective license positions to be reported for a selected point in time. Discovery and integrations run daily, license calculations monthly, and automated alerts flag compliance issues and renewal dates. An affinity model ranks possible license-to-consumption matches by factors such as department, location, cost centre, user, processor architecture, and core count. Supported metrics include per-user, per-computer, processor, core, concurrent-user, and subscription licensing. Agentless discovery covers Windows, VMware ESX, Linux, Unix, Apple Mac, IBM AIX, SNMP, and SSH equipment; an optional agent supports remote endpoints. Named integration sources include SCCM, Tanium, ServiceNow, and Intune, with additional integrations available to build during or after implementation. Organizations can use hosted or on-premise deployment. Pricing is on request; there is no free plan, but a free trial is available.